Google Finance Disappoints — The much awaited launch of Google Finance service finally happened - in beta of course. And in one word, it is simply disappointing. Its like watching Al Pacino in a stinker like Two for the money. Tony Montana was so long ago! — But back to Google Finance.

First Thoughts on Google Finance: All Whiz, No Bang — Google has finally launched Google Finance, its Yahoo Finance slayer. While it's nice to see Yahoo Finance get some more competition, so far there is little here (yet) to cause a cross-service stampede.

NEWS: GOOGLE.PORTAL.FINANCE LAUNCHES — (image credit) It may not be live for a bit, but I just got off the phone with the product manager for Google Finance. Today the site is finally launching. The UK sites already have the story. A few thoughts. — First, this marks a rolling shift …

Google Finance: Nice charts, but users won't switch quickly — Google Finance launched tonight - I had a sneak peak from Google last week and got a chance to play with it a bit after it went live tonight. I also had a chance to speak with a Yahoo! spokesperson after the Google site launched and was able to get their reaction.

Google Finance - Lots of Flash & Ajax — The rumor is that Google internally tested Google Finance through two full versions before releasing it today, and the extra attention shows. This is a great looking product overall. And they've taken things at least a step further than Yahoo Finance in its current form.

French MPs vote to open up iTunes — The French parliament has backed plans to give consumers more choice over music downloads from the internet. — MPs backed a draft law to force Apple, Sony and Microsoft to share their proprietary copy-protection systems by 296 to 193 votes.

Starforce enforces DRM by instant reboot (without warning) — Despite all the problems DRM has been causing lately, it seems like companies involved in copy protection just keep trying to create more dangerous copy protections. Originally, they were more of a nuisance causing compatibility issues, installing wanted software, etc.

Bringing Botnets Out of the Shadows — Online Volunteers Monitor Illegal Computer Networks — Nicholas Albright's first foray into some of the darkest alleys of the Internet came in November 2004, shortly after his father committed suicide. About a month following his father's death …

Biz not sure how to treat upstart YouTube — The entertainment world is putting the squeeze on YouTube.com, but will it be more like a hug than a headlock? — In a few short months, the Web site has emerged from the obscure ranks of dozens of online viral-video outposts to dominate …

Samsung unveils 32GB Flash-based 'HDD killer' — Samsung has launched what it reckons its the world's first 32GB NAND Flash-based hard disk drive replacement unit. The company claimed the so-called "solid state disk" can access data three times faster than an HDD can and write files …

Riya to Launch Today — UPDATE: Riya is not launching a public beta today, but is sending out emails with credentials to people who've signed up for the alpha. In a few days Riya will be opening up registration for everyone. More on their blog here. — Rumors are buzzing today …

Social network sites can be a tangled Web — CHICAGO — Media players are hustling to find ways to make money from the social-networking phenomenon at the same time they are struggling to understand how it is transforming their business. — Unlike anything else in an increasingly personalized …

Cybersalon: I'll always be both Daddy's and Mommy's girl — Tonight I'm part of a Berkeley Cybersalon panel that will be asked some bald questions about so-called "big media," blogging and the role of elitism. (Dave Winer quotes Sylvia Paull's email invitation here, including address, nibbles and accessibility to all.)

Page's brother uses tactic with tainted history — Carl Page became an Internet success story before his younger brother, billionaire Google co-founder Larry Page. — Which makes it surprising that Carl Page and his colleagues have just raised money for their newest company with a financing tactic tainted by a long history of scams.

Bookmarklets 101 — Stephanie Johnson is a librarian who constantly uses her LibraryLookup bookmarklet. When her computer was upgraded recently, she could no longer use or add bookmarklets, and she wrote to ask why. It turns out that in the current version of Windows XP …